Late-night rides home shouldn’t feel like rolling dice with your safety, yet millions of women calculate those risks every time they open a rideshare app. Uber’s solution arrived nationwide March 9, 2026: Women Preferences, a feature letting female riders specifically request female drivers across all U.S. cities.
How the Matching System Actually Works
Three options put women riders in control of their transportation choices.
You get three ways to use the feature:
- Request a female driver on-demand
- Book ahead with gender preference locked in
- Set a standing preference that applies automatically
Female drivers can flip a toggle to receive requests exclusively from women passengers. The feature extends to teen accounts where available, giving parents another safety tool for their kids’ rides.
The rollout follows a methodical expansion from its August 2025 pilot in five cities to 60 markets by year-end, before going nationwide this spring.
The Supply Reality Check
Women comprise approximately 20% of U.S. Uber drivers, creating potential wait time constraints.
Here’s the math problem: with women representing roughly one in five Uber drivers nationally, your pool of available rides just shrunk significantly. During the pilot phase across 60 cities in late 2025, Uber claimed wait times stayed “not very different” from standard UberX—though they avoided sharing actual statistics. Supply constraints will likely hit hardest in smaller markets and during peak demand hours.
Legal Pushback and Global Context
Male drivers have filed discrimination lawsuits while the feature supports millions of trips worldwide.
A class-action lawsuit from California male drivers alleges the feature restricts their earning potential through gender discrimination. Meanwhile, Uber’s global data tells a different story: over 230 million trips completed since launching in Saudi Arabia in 2019, with driver availability now spanning more than 40 countries and rider access across seven nations.
The feature represents Uber’s acknowledgment that rideshare safety concerns aren’t just paranoia—they’re legitimate factors in transportation decisions. Whether you use it depends on your priorities: convenience versus control over your ride experience.
